


only bad examples left (all the good ones dead)

by catsinouterspace



Category: Naruto
Genre: Coming Out, Crushes, Friendship, Gen, M/M, Pre-Relationship, Pre-Shippuden, Truth or Dare
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-23
Updated: 2020-05-23
Packaged: 2021-03-02 17:21:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,775
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24330484
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/catsinouterspace/pseuds/catsinouterspace
Summary: Those who abandon their friends are worse than scum, with that in mind Team Seven follows Sasuke on his mission to avenge his clan.
Relationships: Dai-nana-han | Team 7 & Hatake Kakashi, Haruno Sakura & Hatake Kakashi & Uchiha Sasuke & Uzumaki Naruto, Haruno Sakura & Uchiha Sasuke & Uzumaki Naruto, Uchiha Sasuke/Uzumaki Naruto
Comments: 9
Kudos: 153
Collections: Exchange no Jutsu 2020





	only bad examples left (all the good ones dead)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [chadsuke](https://archiveofourown.org/users/chadsuke/gifts).



Sasuke took a deep breath, steeling himself for the conversation ahead of him; he shouldn’t have thought he could be so lucky as to leave Konoha with no one noticing. “It’s the middle of the night, what are you hanging around here for?” He directs the resentment he has for the village at Sakura, reminding himself of what the village is to him: a place where he watched his family die, watched his brother murder them. If he remembers all the awful things that happened here, maybe it won’t be so hard to leave.

“This is the only road out of the village.” 

“You should go to bed.” Sasuke keeps his response curt, desperate not to give away just how torn he feels, to not show how much he wants to follow his own advice and return to bed.

Sakura is crying now, her voice rising, “Why Sasuke? Why won’t you ever tell me anything? Why is it always silence with you? You’ve never shared a single-“

“Why should I have to tell you anything?” Sasuke cut her off, shoving past her. “Just keep your nose out of my business!” 

Sakura grabbed his shoulder, her grip tight enough that he yelped trying to leap away from her but she refused to let him go. “Your business _is_ my business. You’re part of Team Seven, Sasuke.”

“You’re not going to stop me, Sakura.” Sasuke snarled. He had a job to complete, and he would not let her get in the way of that.

“I wasn’t planning on it.” 

“Then-” Sasuke hesitated, “Why are you here?”

“Because we’re coming with you.”

“We’re?” Sasuke glanced around the path, searching for any sign of chakra that didn’t belong to himself or Sakura but the only thing around them was trees, the lone pathway into or out of town eerily quiet at this time of night.

“You know Kakashi Sensei is never on time.” Sakura rolled her eyes, “That’s why Naruto went with him, but…” Honestly, believing the blond could keep Kakashi on track had been a bit of an oversight.

“You’re all…” Sasuke trailed off.

“Yeah.”

“But the village.”

“You’re our friend Sasuke, and those who abandon their friends are-“

“-worse than scum.”

Sasuke nearly leapt out of his skin as Kakashi and Naruto seemed to materialise from thin air, he expected as much from his Sensei but since when could Naruto sneak up on him? 

“Sorry we’re late, I was worried we wouldn’t have enough ramen, so I needed to go to the store, and then I realised I forgot to get Kakashi and-“

“Thank you.” Sasuke cut off Naruto before he could launch into a story that would have them still here by the time the sun was rising. “For coming with me.” Sasuke could feel the blush flooding his face, he turned around, so he wasn’t looking at them, not wanting them to realise how much this really meant to him. The warm feelings he had for his friends still felt like weakness.

“We should go.” Kakashi said, “Put some distance between us and the village.”

* * *

Sasuke watched Kakashi over the fire, Sakura and Naruto had long since gone to bed, and the white-haired ninja was reading one of his books by the fire’s light.

“You know I’m not going back until I-” The words got choked up in his throat, he had one goal in life and half the time he couldn’t even bring himself to say it. “Until it’s over.” Sasuke wanted to make sure that Kakashi didn’t think Sasuke was just throwing a temper tantrum that could be solved with a weekend in the woods before they all traipsed back to Konoha.

Kakashi didn’t even look up from his book, “I know.”

“So, you’re all happy to become deserters?” Sasuke wasn’t an idiot, he knew the penalty that came with what he was doing, he had a mission that was worth the consequences, but what stake did the rest of Team Seven hold?

Kakashi paused, folding his book shut, he tucked it back into his vest. He cast his single uncovered eye over Sasuke. There was a reason Kakashi had failed every team that had crossed his path; he knew the result of putting one’s village before one’s friends, and he already spent too many hours in graveyards. “You’re not alone in this, Sasuke.” 

“Tch,” Sasuke rolled his eyes, “Just because you have a stolen eye does not mean that you know anything of what it’s like to be an Uchiha.”

“It wasn’t stolen, Sasuke.” Kakashi said.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes, a scowl on his face.

“I’m surprised you didn’t say anything earlier.” Kakashi watched him, Sasuke’s expression didn’t change. “Surprised you would think so lowly of me.” Kakashi said this softer than before.

Sasuke glowered at Kakashi, he wasn’t stupid. He knew that the sharingan was a powerful jitsu, knew that in war human lives were mere statistics, knew that Kakashi had been a warrior younger than Sasuke was now.

“The eye was Obito’s.”

Sasuke had never met Obito, but he lived with the grief that his death had caused. He’d been a part of the rotating visitors into Obito’s mother's house, helping with cleaning and cooking because her grief had made the woman retreat from life. Loss was not something unfamiliar in a shinobi village, but it did not make the pain less poignant. 

“He was my teammate.” Kakashi continued in the face of Sasuke’s silence. “A mission went wrong.” He watched Sasuke; the boy was… different from Obito, the only similarities that they shared was a last name, and when Obito had had that name tragedy hadn’t marred it. “Before he died, he asked that his eye be given to me.”

“That’s against clan-” 

“-clan law, I know.” Kakashi would never know whether Obito had been too young to understand the gravity of giving away the Uchiha’s most prized position or if Kakashi had just meant that much to him.

The crackling of the dying fire filled the silence between them, it stretched on so long that Sasuke thought the conversation was over.

“You’re not the only one to experience loss, Sasuke.” Kakashi looked out to where the other two members of the team were sleeping, “And you’re not alone in this.”

* * *

Kakashi woke up to the sound of trees crashing down, the noise echoing through the forest as flocks of birds took screeching to the sky. He was out of his sleeping bag and crouched low, eyes scanning for danger in less than a second.

The cause of the sound wasn’t hard to ascertain, a bright flash of orange streaked past him, followed by another, and another, and another. The clones all making their way to a part of the forest that cackled with electricity so strong, it would have made Kakashi’s hair stand on end if that wasn’t already its natural position. Kakashi groaned, he hadn’t signed up for this. Or maybe he had when he’d agreed to Naruto’s pleas to follow Sasuke out of the village, he should have known that despite Naruto’s willingness to become a rogue ninja for Sasuke and throw away all he had worked for that the pair’s bickering wouldn’t stop.

Kakashi began to make his way over to the commotion, it wouldn’t do for the two of them to kill each other before they’d even made a day's travel from the village.

Sasuke stood in a large pit, no doubt caused by the rasengan, he struck down the clones that rushed at him indiscriminately with the chidori.

Kakashi scanned the forest, trying to spot the real Naruto, hoping that he was far away from the lightning strikes. The entire forest was teaming with Narutos, and Kakashi had no idea which was the real one. He spotted a flash of pink in the distance and took off along the tree lines towards it, deciding that trying to talk to Sasuke about not killing his team mate could be a conversation for another time.

Sakura whirled around, as a clone snuck up behind her, she kicked her leg into the air, her foot colliding with the clone’s face with enough force that it disappeared in a puff of smoke. She didn’t pause to think about her victory, however, instead she was already turning towards another clone. She moved with a speed that made it near impossible for Kakashi to track her without his sharingan. The constant clouds caused by the disappearing clones only further obscured her. Still the clones came in higher and higher numbers.

_What the hell was going on?_

Sakura seemed to recognise that she couldn’t take this number of clones in hand to hand combat, there were just too many of them. She leapt into the air but didn’t move towards a tree. Kakashi’s eye widened as he realised what she was planning on doing. The girl twisted her body, left arm coiling backwards as she plummeted back towards the ground.

Kakashi grabbed onto the tree branch he was watching from, bracing himself for the impact. As Sakura got close enough to the ground, she struck at it. The resulting shock waves made Kakashi feel as though his body had gone through a blender, the trees closest to Sakura plummeted to the ground, the noise of them deafening, the entire forest seemed to go up in smoke as clones disappeared.

_What the fuck?_

As the dust settled a streak of orange raced across the woods to Sakura, she whirled towards it, crouching into a fighting stance, he hands curled in fists, arms held tight in front of her, one protecting her face, the other her stomach. 

The blond paused, holding his hands up as a sign of peace, “It’s the real me!” He shouted.

The tension left Sakura’s body, and she moved back into an upright position, she ran her hand through her short hair partially upright from wind caused by her last attack, bits of twigs and leaves decorating it. 

Naruto resumed running towards her, “That was awesome!” He shouted.

Kakashi jumped down from his tree, making his way over to the pair. Sasuke raced towards them too, skidding to a halt in front of them, “Was that you Sakura? I think my ears are still ringing.” 

The pink haired girl beamed, taking Sasuke’s current impairment as praise.

Kakashi hesitated for a moment, letting himself take in the easy grins on the trio’s faces, it was rare to see them all happy for once; it made them look as young as they were. Kakashi cleared his throat.

The three genin whipped towards him.

“Oh, Kakashi, you’re awake!” Naruto exclaimed.

Kakashi truly wondered how Naruto thought anyone could possibly sleep through the commotion. “Would one of you like to explain what is going on?”

“Well, since you weren’t up yet, we decided to do some training.” Sakura explained.

“And Naruto’s clones are a great way to do it without anyone getting hurt.” Sasuke continued.

Kakashi just stared at them, he could get used to this. Although he would appreciate it if they maybe toned down the destruction a little. “We better get going.” It wouldn’t exactly be hard to track them with the mess that had been made.

“Yeah, I’m starving.” Naruto piped up.

* * *

Sasuke positioned his back against a tree, sliding down into a sitting position, not fully trusting his legs to support him as he transitioned from standing to sitting. He could already feel the bruises forming on his left side, and his entire body ached from exhaustion. 

Kakashi watched him, taking a seat not too far from his student. It had been another long night of training. Kakashi knew too well that he should not be the one teaching the young Uchiha the secrets of the sharingan, but who else was there? The only other with such a jitsu was the man Sasuke was training to kill.

“You knew him.” Sasuke says.

Kakashi doesn’t have to ask who. It’s the person on Sasuke’s mind at every waking moment, the person whose name remains unuttered even if he is the entire reasoning behind the Team not being in Konohagakure. “I did.”

Sasuke hesitates before his next words, “What was he like?” He finally brings himself to say. Sasuke’s memories of Itachi are distant, he was still so young the last time he had seen his brother and the memories of him are all jumbled: a touch to the forehead, arms folding him into a hug when he once again failed to live up to Fugaku’s standards, a piggy back as he explained the history of his clan, games about catching cats; but then there was the one memory that remains crystal clear, as if it had happened only moments ago. And it doesn’t fit into the puzzle that is the rest of his memories. Itachi had been busy, but he had always been kind and loving, a loyal son, and yet.

“Young.” The words left Kakashi’s mouth before he could consider them. At the time he hadn’t been much older than Itachi, he’d been a weapon for the state since he was younger than Itachi was then, so it hadn’t seemed that odd. But now Kakashi couldn’t help but wonder if things could have turned out differently if Itachi had been allowed to be a kid for just a little longer.

Sasuke was watching Kakashi, waiting for more.

Kakashi didn’t know what to say; would it help if he told Sasuke that Itachi was awful and evil, make the job he had ahead of him easier? “He was polite, and hardworking, diligent to his duties.”

Sasuke nodded.

They sat in companionable silence for a while. Before Kakashi finally broke it, “You don’t have to, you know?”

“I do.”

“It won’t change anything.” 

“I know.”

* * *

Kakashi had long since gone to bed, leaving the trio to huddle around a fire. They’d spent the last few months in a small seaside town, doing odd jobs to gain enough money to continue their journey, they’d spent the last three years on the road, honing their skills. They’d recently gotten a new lead on the Akatsuki and it was only a matter of time before they moved on again.

“We should play truth of dare.” Sakura piped up.

Sasuke groaned, but Naruto enthusiastically stated his support for the group.

“Okay, I’ll start.” Sakura began, “Sasuke, truth or dare.” 

_Neither_ , Sasuke thought about saying, but Naruto and Sakura were watching him with such unabashed excitement he couldn’t help feeling some himself. “Dare.” He finally conceded.

“Hmmm,” Sakura hummed as she pondered her choice. “I dare you to steal one of Sensei’s books.”

“Why would I want to steal one of Kakashi’s pornos?”

“Uh, because I dared you to.” Sakura said as though Sasuke was a simpleton. 

“What are you a coward?” Naruto goaded. 

Sasuke rolled his eyes as he stood up, returning a few minutes later with a dog-eared book, Kakashi was a surprisinglysound sleeper, he was more worried about how he was inevitably going to have to return it.

“Okay, my turn.” Sasuke said, thrusting the book at Sakura. “Naruto, truth or dare?”

“Dare.” 

“Go and get more firewood.”

“Hey!” Sakura protested at the same time Naruto said, “That doesn’t count!”

Sasuke shrugged his shoulders, “I don’t see any rule book.” 

Naruto moved his hand to form the clone jitsu, “Well, if there aren’t any rules.” 

Sasuke shrugged, he didn’t really care how the firewood got here. 

“Okay,” Naruto began as his clones set about finding more firewood, “Sakura, truth or dare?”

Sakura paused, weighing up her options. “Truth.”

“Do you still like Sasuke?” 

Sasuke steeled himself for the answer, things had been quite pleasant between the three of them lately and he really didn’t want everything to be awkward again.

“God, no.” She turned to the boy in question, “Sorry Sasuke but getting a firsthand view of your hygiene practice, or should I say lack there-“

“Hey!” Sasuke cut her off.

“I mean I thought your hair was cool before I realised it’s just like that because of all the grease.” 

Sasuke stuck out his bottom lip in an exaggerated pout. 

Sakura tilted her head back in a laugh, she composed herself and turned towards the blond, “Naruto, truth or dare?”

“Truth.”

“Should I get a buzz cut in the next village?”

“Oh, my god yes!” Naruto exclaimed, “You would look so awesome.” 

“Wait, are you gay?” Sasuke interrupted.

Sakura snorted, “What because I got over my crush on you?”

Sasuke felt his cheeks redden, he’d meant because of the hair but it seemed trivial and stereotyping to say that now. Still, now he was running through all of Sakura’s interactions with women and maybe-

“Sasuke, truth or dare.” 

“Truth.” Sasuke, really didn’t feel like having to steal anything else from their Sensei, or worse yet having to actually read through the book he had stolen.

“Are _you_ gay?” Naruto asked.

“What’s it to you?” Sasuke snapped. 

“Oh man,” Naruto laughed. “Wouldn’t you like to know?” He waggled his eyebrows, and Sakura and Naruto burst into a fit of giggles.

“You’ll wake Kakashi.” Sasuke whisper yelled.

Sakura cleared her throat, swallowing up the laughter. Naruto did the same.

“Yes.” Sasuke admitted quietly.

There was a moment's silence, “Hey Sas, you know that’s okay right?” Naruto began, “I didn’t mean to make you feel uncomfortable.”

Naruto looked so genuinely apologetic, big blue eyes wide and earnest. _What’s it to you?_ The words rang through his head, _jesus christ , he needed to get over this crush_. “Tch,” Sasuke said out loud, brushing Naruto off, not wanting to show how much it meant to him, he turned to Sakura, “Answer the question.” 

“You’re meant to ask me truth or dare.” Sakura sniffed.

Sasuke rolled his eyes, “Truth or dare.” 

“Truth and yes.” She grinned, turning to Naruto.

“Dare!” The blond declared.

“Hey!” Sakura and Sasuke protested.

“You can’t avoid the question!” Sasuke complained.

Naruto’s face broke out into a broad grin, “Oh Sasuke, wouldn’t you like to know?” He repeated, with the same waggle of his eyebrows. 

Sasuke thought about lunging over the fire to shove him, Naruto was truly insufferable. 

“If you must know,” Naruto was still grinning, absolutely delighted with having all attention on him, “I’m bi.” He then turned his attention to Sasuke, “Sasu-“ 

“ _Dare_.” Sasuke stressed.

* * *

Sasuke stared at the empty building, Kakashi patted his shoulder in an attempt to offer comfort. “We’ll search the premises.”

Sasuke nodded, but he already knew what they would find, a big fat load of nothing. Every time they thought they were closing in on the Akatsuki, the group was just one step ahead.

As expected, there was no clue where the Akatsuki were now, no evidence of them even being here in the first place except for a few villagers talking of cloaked men, one with a face like a shark, they’d gathered enough information to know that the man in question was Kisami, Itachi’s partner.

Sasuke feels like he’d just slit the throat of a rival in combat only for them to turn into a log. 

Team Seven opted to stay in the town for a bit while they figured out their next step, once again they’d hit a wall. 

Sasuke paced around the small lodgement, he felt like he should be chasing after his brother, that every second is just another in which Itachi gets further away, but where would he chase? He had as much a chance of ending up further away than closer.

“Your pacing is driving me nuts, sit down!” Sakura finally snapped.

Sasuke turned to glare at her, but conceded the point, flopping dramatically onto the lodging’s floor. 

Kakashi had taken off with one of his books, no doubt finding a tree in which to read it, and Naruto was looking for supplies, ie. trying out the town’s local food.

“We were closer this time.” Sakura tried to comfort Sasuke.

Sasuke groaned, rubbing at his eyes with the heels of his hands, how close they were made the whole thing worse, he’d been hoping that by now, it would be over, and then he could-

_Could what exactly?_

Head back to Konoha? He imagined the look on the Hokage’s face, Tsunade, a woman he’d met once, _Hey sorry about bailing on the village for the last few years, had to go and commit fratricide, you know how it is._

They hadn’t heard hide nor hair of people from Konoha looking for them in the last year, but Sasuke doubts they’ve given up searching, after all their group consisted of the legendary copy-nin, the last Uchiha, and the jinchuriki of the village, not exactly a group of people Konoha would have been too pleased to lose.

“-earth to Sasuke.” Sakura was leaning off the bed, so she hovered over Sasuke, her hair dangling in his face as she snapped her fingers at him.

“What are you thinking of doing?” Sasuke asked.

Sakura repositioned herself on the bed, “Well I was going to get a haircut tomorrow if Kakashi and Naruto don’t find any jobs, I did say I would get a buzz cut in the next village.”

“No, I mean-” Sasuke hesitated, “... after?”

“Oh,” Sakura paused, it wasn’t like she hadn’t thought about this. They’d been so close this time that she was already thinking about how to make things right with Tsunade. “I suppose head back to the village.”

“Do you think they’d take us?”

Sakura offered a half shrug, “I mean, I’m sure they’d be a lot of hullabaloo with protocol but I don’t think Tsunade’s dumb enough to scorn her best assets.”

Sasuke hummed, Sakura had a point.

“You’d come back too, wouldn’t you?” Sakura asked quietly.

For a second he’s thirteen again and Sakura is blocking his path, telling him he can’t go alone. He’s still amazed that they’d followed him, that they’d stuck with him for so long. Sakura has a family to return to at home, Naruto has friends, and Kakashi was the golden shinobi of the village. Sasuke’s not really sure what his place is there, can’t imagine the life he’d build there. But if he’s being honest, he’s never really imagined one past killing Itachi. He knows there has to be something after, but honestly the importance of whatever happens pales in comparison to avenging his family. 

Sasuke realises Sakura is still waiting on his answer. He supposes that’s what he’ll have in the village, her and Kakashi, and Naruto. “Yeah.” He whispers, and for the first time lets himself imagine a life after Itachi.


End file.
